MSoPie

Gen AI and Chatbots: Talk delivered for GDG (Google Developers Group), Mysuru on 11-May-2024.

Gen AI --> Generative AI

The Talk covers the following:

IKIGAI of AI (Soul of AI)

Gen AI Market - Snapshot

Gen AI and Chatbot Interconnectedness

Chatbot Architecture and Use case

Basic Set-up

1. Create a EC2 instance. 2. Create an Elastic IP address. 3. Associate the IP address to EC2 instance. 4. Edit the security group and     a. add HTTP for port 80 and everywhere     b. change SSH to everywhere.

Now, with this, we go ahead SSH the machine, install and launch your webserver. And in the browser give the public IP address to access your website, it does NOT work. Has this happened to you?

If so, you could try this solution which helped me.

SOLUTION: Add CUSTOM TCP RULE and set the port to the port specified in your web app and everywhere. In my case the port specified as an example, it was 4567 and I set it for 4567, it worked.

1. Deleting EC2 instances which had autoscaling: Solution: Disconnect the autoscaling option, either by delete autoscaling or removing the EC2 instance from it.

2. The AMIs with different OS versions: Solution: Even if you launch the same AMIs, the observation is that the software installed versions are different.

3. ELB adding EC2 instance which has autoscaling: Solution: Same as point 1; do the same for ELB.

4. mounted volume challenges and clean-up. Solution  #to get the mount working for apache; the command to use is - setenforce 0

5.   Route 53 - DNS not resolving. Solution: This may take some time. Added A record with the public EIP.

6.   Non-related to AWS: a.       The biggest challenge I faced was SSL on web apache.              i.  SSL configuration minus SSL2 and SSL3 Solution: Set the configuration file with the right options.             ii.  Virtual host for the registered domains Solution: The virtual host file should have the correct port (like 80 and I did not use 443).            iii.  Get the https work; this was a struggle. Solution: This happens if https port is not opened; at the security group.            iv.  Localhost and internal IP works but not the external IP Solution: This happens if https port is not opened; at the security group.

The architecture of the product “Nudge” as part of Synapse Inc. 

I had the opportunity to take care of every technical aspect, except the mobile part and the mobile SDK development.

The infrastructure on the cloud, the backend, DB, middleware/webserver, mobile analytics, API interfaces and documentation, functionality tests, etc. Learned the entire stack. To learn - asked help of the team member, so that I could  learn quickly and start to build the product with least learning curve.

It was a packed 4 months (day and night; late nights were a norm), so much of passion and energy. 

I had an opportunity to work on a few fundamentals of AWS in just 2 days. AWS is vast, an ocean; in that, I got to explore some of the basic fundamentals/tools.

To name a few: EC2 (Elastic Cloud Computing), ELB (Elastic Load Balancer), ESB (Elastic Store Block), EIP (Elastic IP), S3 (Simple Storage Service), Route 53, etc.

I really liked the documentation. A beginner like me could follow it and build things quickly. Also, the price part, it is based on the features you use, the number of hours, etc. There are many features available for free tier which can be explored, to begin with.

What did I achieve at the end of this experiment: Two websites; each on a different web server (Apache and IIS) in a different OS (Linux and Windows). And a load balancer which distributes traffic to the Linux and Windows servers in a round-robin fashion. Also, set alarms and detailed cloud monitoring as well.

What more did I learn? IAM (Identity Access Management), AMI (Amazon Machine Images), Auto Scaling, Security Groups, Target Groups, DNS, SSL certificates (internal – AWS, external – comodo), For Domain validation: CNAME hashing, HTTP hashing, Email validation through Domain; https setting minus SSL2 and SSL3, port 443 invocation and many more. Though very basic of these, there is much more to know and learn.

Challenges:   1.   Learning something new, all by yourself. In that process, some of the challenges were deleting EC2 instances which had autoscaling, the AMIs with different OS versions, ELB adding EC2 instance which has autoscaling, mounted volume challenges and clean-up. 2.   Route 53 - DNS not resolving. I eventually realized the issue and need a workaround for this. I am yet to figure this out. 3.   Non-related to AWS:  a.       The biggest challenge I faced was SSL on web apache.               i.  SSL configuration minus SSL2 and SSL3              ii.  Virtual host for the registered domains             iii.  Get the https work; this was a struggle.             iv.  Localhost and internal IP works but not the external IP              v.  Many more. And some more issues on this front to be resolved. b.      SSL certificate validation without email: CNAME hashing. AWS would hash it with “_” starting and my domain service provider would not accept. c.     Comodo: 90 days free SSL. I had a different challenge to get the SSL, to check with this would it work, but no.

I shall brief soon as to how I dealt with each of these challenges.

Conclusion:

My key focus was cost-effectiveness. And my experiments were based on how a start-up would think to spend even a dollar. There is a good opportunity to leverage these basic fundamentals with good design. The current goal was to build the simple websites with load balancing.

More Info:

Here is the website: http://elb-win-linux-164187858.ap-southeast-1.elb.amazonaws.com/

Another IoT product, home automation. on Raspberry Pi 3 B & NodeMCU (ESP8266).

Now, I can take the next step to automate my home, to switch ON lights and AC based on this IoT prototype.

Key features:

When the light intensity goes less than lux 50, the light goes ON.

When the temperature increases above 27 degree Celsius, the AC goes ON (for IoT prototyping, I have used a LED to switch ON).

It keeps updating the temperature (Celsius), humidity, LDR and lux, every 15 seconds.

It is integrated into Cloud.

The best part is communication between NodeMCU and Raspberry Pi, where Raspberry Pi (digital) and NodeMCU (analog) need to interface. NodeRED is a tool by IBM which helps to communicate between different components like here, microcontroller and microprocessor.

IoT - automation with machine 2 machine communication:

This is an M2M (machine to machine) communication; where the data is analyzed and based on its threshold, a trigger switches ON Light or AC.

So, light and AC switches on by itself, based on the provided parameter.

About the product: Build it using -

NodeMCU ESP8266 v1.0,

Raspberry Pi 3 model,

DHT11,

LDR,

Coded in Arduino IDE,

NodeRED to interface between NodeMCU and Raspberry

Also, installed a module called thingspeak42 to update data to thingspeak.

Three main Challenges:

NodeMCU communicates via the raspberry-pi’s IP address and the node RED port on the raspberry-pi. (Example: 192.168.0.115:1880). NodeMCU returns a -11 error code, though NodeRED gets all the 4 values. This is still an open issue, working on it.

thingspeak42: Had to do my own research and figure out how to configure the msg.payload to msg.topic in nodeRED to get thingspeak going from ready mode to wait and process mode. In the process, I learned a few more concepts. Experimented with different ways to get msg.topic using different functions, switches, etc. You can also do this without thingspeak/thingspeak42 node by creating a URL and with an HTTP request.

Getting LEDs working on Raspberry Pi, using the GPIOs. A small glitch in the identification of GPIOs, which led to not switching on, but another recheck, it worked. The interaction was through NodeRED, to switch ON or OFF.

Integration with Cloud: Thingspeak: Facilitates to update to the cloud through their APIs. Experimented through NodeRED (thingspeak42 node) with the Cloud integration. A new learning.

Another way to save power is switch ON your devices or the display, only when you are there. Else simply switch it off. Don't you think, this is a small step to reduce carbon footprint and will help global warming?

How can you achieve this? There are plenty of tech solutions out there and I tried one of them.

Face recognition using Webcam and Raspberry Pi. Logic using Magic Mirror framework and nodejs. A successful one.

This is a very basic use case, but this can be leveraged for many more useful use cases.

[ Pronounce it as: nAda  (sanskrit: नाद; നാദ, ನಾದ) ]

Well, in the progress of learning IoT, I implemented voice commands, though very basic it was very exciting. 

Naada calendar on

Naada calendar off

Naada weather on

Naada weather off

Wow! it was awesome to see NAADA working. It took some amount of effort, (apart from the programming and putting altogether) get them to recognize voice/words with the background noise by my kids, etc. But I did it.

Those were the modules switching on and off, which was fine. 

The next step was switching off the monitor. Like when I say Naada monitor OFF - my monitor is off. and when I say Naada monitor ON and there comes my monitor ON and I experimented with my TV. It works. I thought, now I can replace my remote with these voice commands. Whenever my remote goes missing, here is a quick solution ;-)!

Tech spec:

Hardware: Raspberry Pi 3 B Softwares/Packages/framework: pocket-sphinx, lmtool, MagicMirror

About the name:

I started off by using the nickname of my daughter, it was an interesting phase. Each time, I gave a voice command, my little one used to respond (we used to laugh and laugh) and there goes the voice command. I enjoyed the innocent reaction of my 2-year-old and at the same time, I struggled to get them in place.

After a bit of thinking and brainstorm, we decided to call it NAADA. Meaning: NAADA in sanskrit means sound.

My Second IoT product - Weather station which would publish daily weather report.

You can read the Daily Weather report @ https://thingspeak.com/channels/509298

In this, when the temperature dips and lights illuminance reduces, the LED switches ON as an ALERT!

My first IoT product, my workplace buddy. on NodeMCU (ESP8266).

Key features:

It will alert me if I work for long hours.

It will let me know when the light is dim.

It keeps updating the temperature (Celsius) and humidity, every second.

The best of all, it is integrated into Cloud.

You can monitor it remotely, any part of this world, provided you have the data connection.

Also, this helps to build good visualizations.

This can be extended to other features like -

burglar alarm; you can be anywhere in this world - you can get the alerts irrespective of the location and proximity.

switch lights on and off based on user presence.

temperature vs. humidity correlation.

Many more.

Snapshot of the workspace and OLED: I am super excited; the first step!

About the product: Build it using -

NodeMCU ESP8266 v1.0,

PIR (Passive infra-red sensor) with sensitivity (distance) & delay time,

DHT11,

LDR and

Coded in Arduino IDE.

Three main Challenges:

PIR getting it to respond as expected. Initially, I thought my PIR was faulty. But, after reading materials on PIR & adjusting jumpers and experimenting, I could fix this problem.

OLED: There were many occasion when it refused to display when it is all integrated. I had to disintegrate, check for issues and again integrate and do.

Integration: All when integrated, it went for a toss, due to oversight & sensors behaving differently with other components. To solve, I elevated PIR; PIR & OLED on the same height, etc. Also faced challenges in integrating to cloud as well. But a great learning. The first step towards building IoT products.

Integration with Cloud: Thingspeak: Facilitates to update data to the cloud through their APIs. It records all the 4 dimensions for now; temperature, humidity, light - LDR, light - lux. I experimented with this, it is super cool.

Last trimester of pregnancy and last week in the campus; all geared to gain as much, breaking the barriers and with strong determination; I did it. Gratitude!

Can you imagine, someone who is 8 months pregnant and staying in a campus (alone) away from family for a week? Yes, I did; 3 years back.

I stayed @ IIMB campus for a week, while I was pregnant. The campus was so beautiful. I still remember the fresh air, the early morning walks, though I had to drag myself out of the bed, the serene surroundings did the magic for me. It is a mesmerizing experience. In those 6 to 7 days, I did go around on some of the mornings, but some mornings, I merely got up, to be on time for the class.

We had classes every day for the last one week, where we had classes for the chosen specialization. It would start at 9 in the morning and went on until 5 in the evening and after that, we had to continue to work on our projects, assignments, readings, etc. And the very thought of traveling from Indiranagar to Bannerghatta every day, during the last trimester was a nightmare. Thus, decided to stay on the campus for the last one week, which I requested for and was approved.

It was one of the most productive weeks. I had "ME" time after a long time. Though there are things related to your pregnancy and at the time   I had to literally drag myself but it did not deter me. I was so happy to have this ME time, I did so many things along with my coursework as well. There were a   couple of pending things to the "product" that I was building in data science, I got one to closure. Also, for the first time, I was away from Eva, though it is a mixed feeling to be away from your child, I choose to make the best of my ME time.  So, there were no other distractions but only the tasks that I had to do.

Every alternative day, my husband and my daughter, came visiting me in the evening. And my mom once. My daughter liked the place because she had so much of place to run around and play and eat chocolates, etc. ; while I was busy with my task. Then, before they leave, we would have dinner together,    Au Bon Pain was our favorite.

About the campus: A 100-acre oasis in south Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), with its all-stone architecture, lush verdant woods and landscaped gardens, provides an idyllic environment to engage in management studies, academics and learning. IIMB has world-class infrastructure that facilitates excellence in teaching, research, consulting and other professional activities. [extract from IIMB website].

Passion to code, passion to learn, passion to get hands-on on latest technologies drives me immensely. Though I have 2 kids and around 16 years of IT experience, it does not stop me from learning.

I got introduced to computers in school in 1987. During Lab periods I was assigned the task of being the first one to go to the computer lab, before all the students come in, put a 5¼ floppy into the CPU on all the desktop machines in the Lab, boot the machines and keep it ready for the students to use. I remember asking my computer science teacher as to what computer science was all about, apart from programming and gaming. Among other things, she said that “only 1% clear the computer exam, it is very difficult.” I was left wondering that if DOS, windows, BASIC programming, LOGO, (all of what I was doing then), were so easy then what is so hard! It created an urge in me to know more, do more. I used to go to the Lab after classes and program in BASIC, etc.

I have come a long way since then. Though I wanted to do computers in my college, I had to take up commerce. But, while doing my Bachelors, I got a scholarship at Aptech and enrolled for a higher diploma program in 1995, which was for 2 years. I used to spend more time at Aptech, than in the college.

I remember, when they started Unix, I used to go to the Lab from 7am and work until 9pm, without a break. I was in love with Unix. I used to write programs in C++; some creative (not the normal ones) programs and send those programs to my cousin who was not in Bangalore. She used to flaunt those programs to her classmates and they used to be amazed.

As part of the course, we did 2 projects, one in 2nd sem, the other in 4th sem which was a live project for a company. We had to go to the company, collect their requirements, create SRS, feasibility study, context diagrams for both current and proposed system, HLDs, LLDs, flow diagrams, develop the product in Oracle, including UI and reports. It was a great learning experience; we gained so much in terms of know-how, the practical problems, insights into a real-world scenario. This still helps me when I start new projects.

After Aptech, In 1998; I got a job with IISc and while there, I learned VB, java, MCSP – in and out of windows server, Novell Networking, etc. Soon after, I joined MphasiS (BFL software then). There I simulated a couple of products like Audivox’s Cellphone, Samsung’s cell phone with digicam, panasonic’s DVD, etc. I also built an internal portal using IIS, ASP and SQL server. I also developed tools using VB which saved a lot of man hours. All this while I continued my studies and enrolled for MCA.

Meanwhile, I decided to explore testing, and though my centre manager asking me to get back to development, I remained in testing. I loved testing because it did not restrict me to only the module I was working on and exposed me to the whole product. And I could as well code, automation.

Here, I realized that I had the skill to uncover defects which others could not. I also loved the role of playing a quality gatekeeper. This took me to my next role when I joined Yahoo! as a white box tester. Here I played an altogether different role in QE; manual testing, test lead, handling multiple projects, project reporting, backend testing, testing advertisement pipelines, automating backend tests, big data testing, big data automation, automation frameworks and standing-up for quality of the product. It has been a hard fight, but yet I stood up for quality wherever required.

However, as fate would have it, due to a re-org in Yahoo! I was back into development. This time it started with big data development using Hadoop, pig scripts, oozie, hbase, etc. and also involved managing testing and release engineering activities, like yearly, quarterly roadmaps, tracking, task allocation, automation progress, optimisation, etc.

I am also creative, love solving problems differently. As part of this, I was looking out for solutions to solve the data validation problem without human intervention.

via GIPHY

I was lucky to be mentored on machine learning for big data validation, which led me to explore R and Hadoop, with research on other technologies, zeroing down to Rhadoop for reporting, which can be used with Hadoop streaming and with additional packages to enhance buffer to increase the performance of huge data. It was a time of exploring and experimenting with the newest technologies. I continued to enroll in allied courses too and completed one on Machine Learning.

It was an awesome experience, with a hectic job and my first baby was just 1.5 years. Sleepless nights were the norm, and I built many scripts using Matlab, built NN (neural networks) with one hidden layer, to recognize numbers from print 0 to 9, developed script to categorize spam or not, and many more.

Late 2014, I quit Yahoo! and started helping my friend with his startup. We built a product for Target Inc. from scratch and delivered it in 4 months, where we got a funding of $50000. Around this time, I applied for GMITE at IIM-B, got shortlisted and enrolled for a one-year executive program, on-campus in 2015. And it so happened that I was pregnant again with my second child. Despite the limitations this placed on me, I managed to pull through the program and when I went for the convocation in Feb-2016, I had my 18-days-old baby with me! 

I have continued on the same path since then and completed a course in Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence to build relevant skills. As part of the project for AI, I developed a feature for autonomous driving “identifying traffic signal green lights direction” using NN in matlab. End of 2016, I had enrolled for “Do your venture” MOOC program for a women’s startup program, where I got shortlisted as one of the 50 entrepreneurs who got bootcamped at IIMB.

Recently, I enrolled for an Internet of Things (IoT) course, with a full scholarship, for which I am grateful to Jigsaw Academy for giving me this opportunity.

To sum it up, in the past 3 years, I have acquired skills in ML (machine learning), Data sciences and AI. Along with these, I did my GMITE (general management for IT executives) IIMB, helped my friend in his startup and bootcamped at IIMB in an entrepreneurial program. During this phase, I also had my second child and I am currently enrolled for IoT and reading up on blockchain. Looking back, I can say that all these would not have been possible, without my husband and mom’s support.

One key thing, even after the turmoils at workplace never deterred my spirit to be in tech space as a women geek. I am passionate, so as many! Let us rock this world!

Also, let us all women geek help the other who is need of support.

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